Leaves from Juliana Horatia Ewing's "Canada Home".

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LEAVES

FROM

JULIANA HORATIA EWING'S
"CANADA HOME."

Some homes are where flowers forever blow,
The sun shining hotly the whole year round;

But our home glistens with six months of snow,
Where frost tcitbout wind hrigbtens every somtd.

And home is home, wherever it is,

When we 're all together, and nothing amiss.

J. H. E.

LEAVES

FROM

JULIANA HORATIA EWING'S

ii

CANADA HOME."

(Slati)rrrD aitti I-llustratcU

IJY

ELIZABETH S. TUCKER. /

Together with Facsimiles of Eight Water-Color Drawings

BY Mrs. Ewing's own hand.

BOSTON:

ROBERTS BROTHERS.

1896.

TBI MEW TOAK
PUBUC LTRRARY

575923B

ASTOK, IT... <% 4:, J

B

11)

J

Copyright, 1896,
By Roberts Brothers.

/I// rights res€rf<d.

^ittbrrsits ^rrss:
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A.

TO

fflargaret iWetJleg,

THROUGH WHOSE KINDLY ASSISTANCE THESE MEMORIAL
LEAVES OF THE LIFE OF HER BELOVED FRIEND

ARE GATHERED,

THIS VOLUME IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED.

E. S. TUCKER.

CONTENTS.

Leaves from Mks. Ewing'^j -Canaha Home"

Mrs. EwiMi's Lltjers .

Bishop Medley's Letiek lo Maji>r Ewincj .

i

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

JuLUNA HoRATiA EwiNG Frontispiece

Soldier's Marching Kit Table of Contents

The House Motto (colored) Face page 1 1

Initial. Soldier and Lass 1 1

Mrs. Ewing's House, " Reka Dom " 15

Branch of Willow Tree 17

View of the River from Porch of "Reka Dom" . . 19
Ruins of Old Rose Hall, where Benedict Arnold once

uvED AND Mrs. Ewing stayed 21

Initial. Brushf^ and Ladder 23

Initlal. Sword 26

The Old Barracks (colored) Face page 26

On Guard 27

Soldier's Sash 29

Mrs. Ewing and her Dog Hector 32

Mrs. Ewing's Seat in Choir of Cathedral 34

Old Government House, Fredericton 39

Primrose 44

Initial. Orderly at the Door 45

Window in " Reka Dom " 47

Mrs. Ewing telling Stories to the Children. ... 53

Initial. Cathedral Spire 55

Fredericton Cathedral 57

Eastern Door of the Cathedral 61

!^-

t

X L ist of Illustrations.

Pacb

BiSHOPSCOTE 63

My Mrs. OvER-THE-WAy at her Door 65

Initial. Dog and Snowshoes 67

Fir Bough Shelter 69

Mrs. F^wing's Barn and Canoe 71

Old Nashwaak Bridge 72

Initial. Trillium Flower 74

Primrose in Pot 79

Major, Mrs. Ewing and Hector 81

Pressed Leaves. Fac-simile of Mrs. Ewing*s Water-
color Sketch 85

Fir Trees and Fence. Fac-simile of Mrs. Ewing*s

Water-color Sketch %Z

The Nashwaak River 99

Rear View of the Cathedral 103

The Cathedral and Yellow Trees. Fac-simile of

Mrs. Ewing*s Water-color Sketch 106

Yellow and Crimson Tree. Fac-simile of Mrs. Ewing*s

Water-color Sketch no

On the Nashwaak 121

The Cathedral. Fac-simile of Mrs. Ewing's Water-
color Skeixjh 123

Ruins of Rose Hall of to-day 133

Magundy Church. Fac-simile of Mrs. Ewing's Water-
color Sketch 137

Church Spire. Fac-simile of Mrs. Ewtng's Water-color

Sketch 140

Mrs. Ewing*s Tomb at Trull 145

Ik

^^M^'

I

Leaves from
Mrs. Ewing's "Canada Home."

CHAPTER 1.

\F that swfet writer, Juliana
HoRATiA EwiNd. whose busy
pen was not long since laid
aside, but whose memory lives
with us in the pages of some of the best loved
and brightest stories in the English language, these
are a few memories and facts of that portion of her
life spent on this side of the Atlantic, — a sort of
gleaner's sheaf, from the rich field of that life
already gone over and stored by her sister. Miss
H. K. Gatty.' who, however, in her interesting
work has left almost untouched the record of
the two years in Canada. So that with the aid

1 "Juliana H. Ewing and her Books," by Miss H. K. Galty, 1885.

12 Leaves from

of loving memories held by her many old friends
there, together with some of her own charming
letters written " Home " at that time, we have
many things of interest to tell.

In the small provincial city of Fredericton, New
Brunswick, she spent two years of her earnest
life, writing there many of her sweetest stories;
and we find, in following her footsteps and in
reading her letters, how deeply she loved the quaint
old town whither she came, a stranger and a bride,
with her husband, Major Ewing, when his regi-
ment, the twenty-second of England, was ordered
there in 1867.

Her dearest friend there, Margaret Medley, wife
of the late Bishop Medley of Fredericton, has
been to me a veritable " Mrs. Over-the-Way ''
in giving me of her " remembrances," as little Ida
in that story would say ; and to her thanks are
due for the delightful letters, as \vell as the
interesting set of water colors drawn bv Mrs.
Ewing's own hand. These were done, in fact,
especially for her revered and beloved friend the
Bishop of Fredericton, and were given to him

• * I • •

••• ^ . ••

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer 1 3

on her departure for England. Her love and
esteem for these two friends can readily be seen
by the frequent mention of them in these letters
" Home." It was to them she dedicated her book,
" A great Emergency/' and she keenly enjoyed
her study of Hebrew with the Bishop, who in his
turn w^as greatly impressed by the quick mind
and retentive memory of his pupil.

Mrs. Ewino; is described as havincr an earnest
face, with deep set, *' thinking eyes," while her
slight form seemed almost too frail and small to
carry the abundant crown of golden hair worn in
plaits coiled at the back of her head.

Can one not almost see her, sitting as in her
photograph here, that earnest face bending over
the papers on her lap, — writing, writing, writing
the lovely thoughts which flowed so readily and
continually from her magic pen }

The Ewings occupied three or four different
homes during their two years' stay in Fredericton,
but the favorite one was that which I can see from
my window here, with its three gray old willow
sentinels. She often speaks of this house in her

14 Leaves from

letters, how much she enjoyed her life there. She
called it " Reka Dom " — House by the River, —
for it stands on the bank of the river St. John,
across the road from three old willows. There she
wrote her story of *' Reka Dom," and here is a
sketch of the window in her room, — probably the
very one by which she sat when writing.

Once when she and her husband were walking
on the river bank not long after their arrival in
Fredericton, seeing this old shambling house —
which she describes in one of her letters, — she
expressed a wish to live in it; and they moved
there as soon as they could get possession.
How she must have enjoyed the beautiful St.
John River flowing in front of their windows,
guarded by the rows of old willows! Her room
is in the lower right-hand corner, with the closed
shutters.

I think that dog " Nox," in " Benjy in Beastland,"
must have had his " improvised morgue," for the
" bodies " he found in the river, under that very
old willow which still stretches out over the river
its " finger-like " leaves. This is what she says

\

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer

of it 1

that story :

" Near the dog's home ran a broad,
deep river. Here one could bathe and swim most
delightfully. Here also many an unfortunate ani-
mal found a watery grave. There was one place
from which (the water being deep and the bank
convenient at this spot) the poor wretches were
generally thrown. . . . Hither at early morning
No.\ would come, in conformity with his own
peculiar code of duty, which may be summed up
in these words : ' Whatever does not properly or
naturally belong to the water, should be fetched
out.' . . . Not far from the spot I have men-
tioned, an old willow tree spread its brandies
widely over the bank, and here and there stretched
a long arm, and touched the river with its
pointed fingers. Under the shadow of this tree
was the morgue, and here Nox brought the

I

J

1 8 Leaves from

bodies he rescued from the river, and laid them
down."

This river was a great source of joy and plea-
sure to her beauty-seeing eye; and over its lovely
waters the richly toned Cathedral chimes, and
the bugle note from the barracks, tell the time of
day, and ring out calls to worship to-day, just as
they did when she lived in this house on its
banks. This view she constantly enjoyed while
they lived in that river house, — looking down the
river from the porch, — and she refers to its love-
liness in her letters.

Along this river bank of a Sunday evening the
soldier and his lass stroll to-day, with utter un-
concern for the passing beholder, as they did
then, making picturesque bits of red coat and
white gown against the blue river-line, — the red
of coat seeming to be compelled to keep the
rules of true picture-making by carrying a . line
of the red across a certain narrow place on the
white.

It is just the same to-day; and seemingly the
very same children play under the willows, with

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer 2 1

their dog friends, and drive cows leisurely along
early in the morning and late at night.

Mrs. Ewing had another home on the bank of
the St John — much farther " down river " (is they

RUINS OF OLD ROSE H*LL, VKERE BFNEDICr ARNOLD ONCE UVED
AND MRS. EWING b>TA\ED

say) than " Reka Doni." There she occupied the
large drawing-room in an interesting old house
known as " Rose Hall," and noted for its lovely
river view and the fine old trees about its

22 Leaves from

grounds. This place is of historic interest also,
for it was there that the traitor Benedict Arnold
lived while in Canada. A pile of ruins is now all
that is left of the place (which was destroyed by fire
years ago). Here once was heard the martial tread
of this mysterious man as he walked up and down
in meditation bent, and here our little lady trod
the trees and flowers among ; here the weeds pa-
thetically wave over the crumbled hearth-stones,
and the cows graze all about, while birds undis-
turbed build in the trees overhead, and countless
crickets chirp their everlasting note of the "" un-
changeable " under all the seeming change of
this busy world.

V/

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer

CHAPTER II.

ANY an amusing anecdote is
recalled of the industry and
dauntless energy of this "lit-
tle body with the great heart ''
(as her sister tells us she is
described by a friend) who
desired to do all things.

A story is told of one of the houses she occupied
having such an offensive wall paper as to offend
her artistic eye ; and on her complaining of it to
a Canadian visitor, this latter said, half in fun,
that of course a Canadian girl would be able to
get over the difficulty by papering the room her-
self, but she supposed an English girl would not
know how, as, in her opinion, *' English girls had
only two left hands and no head."

This at once caused our little lady, and her
friend Mrs. Medley, to resent the implied discredit

24 Leaves from

to the Old World training of a girl, and they at
once resolved to show what an " English girl " could
do if her powers were put to the test.

She accordingly bought " a delicate, useless, lav-
ender-tinted wall paper" (as I was told), and
though she did not probably know the difiference
between a " hanger " and a whitewash brush, she
nevertheless proceeded to put up that paper. Of
this paper-hanging she gives such a bright account
in a letter — that of Oct. 12, 1868 — that one has
the whole picture. But she does not add what was
told to me by an onlooker — (in fact, the very caller
whose remarks upon English girls called forth the
event) — that while the two intrepid ladies were
hurrying up their work, to have it done when
Major Ewing should come home, he suddenly and
unexpectedly appeared. At his emphatic exclama-
tion of amazement, on seeing them on tall ladders
wielding brushes in such a professional manner, his
little wife, who had just finished what she consid-
ered her greatest achievement on that wall, — the
pasting over the chimney, — was overcome by her
laughter. Standing on the mantlepiece as she was.

Mrs. Ewmgs " Canada Homer 25

she had to bend forward to recover her balance, and
leaning against that " lovely " paper, left the print
of a pasty apron and hands in the very centre !
The house is little changed, but oh, that that
print of apron and hands could now be seen over
the hearth-stone !

Leaves from

CHAPTER III.

"lAJOR Ewing had his office in

small red brick building

joining the old gray barracks

now occupied by the officers and

their families.

The drawing opposite shows some
parts of this picturesque barrack as
it is to-day, with bits of its unique
life.
The children still play with the regimental
dogs as they did in days of old, and here Mrs.
Ewing used to come to sit under the great old
willows, whence she could get those lovely glimpses
of the blue river beyond.

It was in this very yard that she saw the pet
bear of the regiment eating his dinner, while his
favorite dog sat by and " licked his nose every
time it came up from the bucket," as she writes
in one of her home letters.

/

K

lie pet
ile Iv*

J eve

Mrs. Euiings " Canada Home." 29

Here one may see, as in her day, the various
scenes of a military life, — a red-coated British
soldier, standing " at ease " under the old gallery by
the worn stairs with his black
cat friend peeping through the
rails, or running a lawn-mower
over the well-kept tennis green.

It was in these barracks that
she found and rescued a black
retriever from death, he having
been shut up and basely de-
serted by the outgoing regi-
ment. She named him Trouve,
and it is his likeness she has
drawn in her story of " Benjy
in Beastland," as Nox. There is
a descendant of Black Trouve 's
at the barracks to-day, — the children's pet and
playfellow. Poor Trouve had such an appetite that
he was never satisfied, and was always stealing the
meat for dinner; and his mistress had often to send
and borrow of some kind neighbor, "as company
was expected and Trouve had eaten the joint! "

30 Leaves from

His mistress's fondness for all animals is shown
throughout her writings. In reading that deli-
cious bit of bush-life depicted by Father and
Mother Hedgehog in the tale of " Father Hedge-
hog and his Neighbors," one can see how truly
the author saw under prickly coats of quills the
true instincts of animal life.

Dogs were her special favorites, and nothing
was too good for them to eat, and no place too
clean to be climbed on by their muddy paws.
She was always most tender of hurting their feel-
ings, while many a stray pussy has found a com-
fortable home with her.

She did not care to cage a bird, for she loved
them too deeply, — as she has shown in her '* Idyll
of a Wood."

Her dear doijs were her intimate friends, and
once when she was calling at the house of a
friend, where the vestibule had been newly
scrubbed scrupulously clean, she was asked by
her hostess to leave her dog, whose feet and coat
were very muddy, out on the steps. She did so,
but was compelled to go out several times during

Mrs, Ewings " Canada Honied 3 1

her visit, and whisper words of apology and con-
dolence in the ear of her big banished pet, for
fear he might be hurt in his doggish mind — at
being left outside.

Here is another instance of her tender, droll
ways with her dog friends.

A visitor calling at her house one day found
her deep in writing, every chair and table being full
of papers and books, so that there was no room
for the tea-tray when the servant brought it in.
Mrs. Ewing, looking up, said, ''Oh, put it on the
floor." So down it went. Now one of the dog
friends (a great fellow) was present, and of course
was curious to sniff the contents of the tray. The
visitor was horrified at seeins: his threat muzzle
nosing over the things, and exclaimed about it.
Down on the floor beside him went his tender
mistress, and with both arms about his neck she
whispered to him not to mind that " horrid per-
son's" insinuations and suspicions, but to watch
her, that when she went she did not " carry away
the silver spoons with her ! " Wherever she went
her dear dogs went with her, and wherever she

32 Leaves from

speaks of animal life in her books, she shows her
deep interest in their welfare, and insight into
their habits.

; AND HECl'OR.

Airs. Ewiugs " Canada Home"

CHAPTER IV.

|gSjgji^^?*] •'" A LL of her friends remember

u^^R^B'' '-ia Mrs. Ewing's keen apprecia-

k.WL.«JJr«3:d -^ j-JQij yf anything humorous,

and the ready names, both apt

and droll, but always quite

inofTeiihive, that she applied to people and things

as her vivid imagination suggested.

Even in the choir of the Cathedral, where she
always wished to be most reverent, her sense of
the ridiculous sometimes overcame her, and she
would have to smile almost audibly at some little
incident insignificant in itself.

Across from where she sat in the choir of the
church, she could see the verger blowing the bel-
lows of the great organ, and as his stooping
figure bent over, the long handle of the bellows
stuck out from under the drooping fold of his
black robe, giving the droll appearance of a tail !

34 Leaves from

This was always, to her imagination, a most
comical sight, and more than once she smiled at
her friend on the seat opposite, quite upsetting
that quiet lady s dignity.

One little lady in the choir, who always slid
and glided into her seat with an undulating
movement, never allowing her garments to touch
anything as she went, was called by her, ** Patha
Furtiva," which is the Hebrew for a " thing
which glides." Another's voice she always spoke
of as " weepingly pitched " — which perfectly de-
scribed it !

There was a family of unruly children living
near her, by whose actions she was always much
entertained. Doubtless some of the rather naughty
— but oh, so natural ! — boys and girls in some of
her stories are drawn from these very children's

characters.

On one occasion, when she was calling on their
mother, sitting in the parlor, they noticed a rust-
ling or scrambling in the great fireplace, behind
the old fashioned fire-board. Presently down
came this board flat, with a puff of dust, disclos-

MRS. EWING'S SEAT IN CHOIR OF CATHEDRAL.

^

Mrs. Ewings ''''Canada' Homer 37

ing all the children in a bunch, with sooty faces
and garments, sitting in the fireplace ! They had
hidden there, but, quarrelling, had pushed the
board down.

Mrs. Ewing was interested in a story, then
coming out in " Aunt Judy's Magazine," called
" The Scaramouches," and she then and there
bestowed upon these " mischief makers " the ap-
propriate title of Scaramouches, by which they
were always known thereafter.

She was interested in all the customs of this
quaint colonial town, and of the Canadian winter
dress she speaks in the story of " Three Christ-
mas-Trees," where a boy is described as wearing
" a hooded Indian winter coat of blue and scar-
let," which is the picturesque Canadian blanket
coat of winter. In that story she speaks also of
the dry cold snow, so strange and wonderful to her
English eyes, telling how, when the boys tried to
make a real live snow-man, " the snow would
not stick anywhere except on his shoulders,"
showing the extreme dryness and powdery light-
ness for which our Canadian snow is noted.

38 Leaves from

In this story there is an account of the life in
this little town of her day, which tells of a custom
still kept up by the Governor of the Province, of
giving the children a Christmas-tree, or a party
some time through the winter. Christmas-trees
were then by no means so universal, even in Eng-
land, as they now are, and in this little colonial
town they were unknown, — unknown, that is, till
the Governor s wife gave her great children's party.

" The Governor had given a great many parties
in his time. He had entertained big wigs and
little wigs, the passing military and the local
grandees. Everybody who had the remotest claim
to attention had been attended to : the ladies had
had their full share of balls and pleasure parties :
only one class of the population had any complaint
to prefer against his hospitality ; but the class was
a large one — it was the children. However, he
was a bachelor, and knew next to nothing about
little boys and girls : let us pity rather than blame
him. At last he took to himself a wife; and
among the many advantages of this important step
was a due recognition of the claims of these young

\

Mrs, Ewiugs ^'Canada Ho^ncT 41

citizens. It was towards happy Christmas-tide
that ' the Governor's amiable and admired lady '
(as she was styled in the local newspaper) sent in-
vitations for the first children's party. At the top
of the note-paper was a very red robin, who carried
a blue Christmas greeting in his mouth, and at the
bottom — written with the A. D. C. s best flourish
— were the magic words, A ChristmaS'Tree. In
spite of the flourishes — partly, perhaps, because of
them — the A. D. C. s handwriting, though hand-
some, was rather illegible. But for all this, most
of the children invited contrived to read these
words, and those who could not do so were not
slow to learn the news by hearsay. There was to
be a Christmas-tree I It would be like a birthday
party, with this above ordinary birthdays, that there
were to be presents for every one.

" One of the children invited lived in a little white
house, with a spruce fir-tree before the door. The
spruce fir did this good service to the little house,
that it helped people to find their way to it; and
it was by no means easy for a stranger to find his
way to any given house in this little town, espe-

42 Leaves from

daily if the house was small and white, and stood
in one of the back streets. For most of the houses
were small, and most of them were painted white,
and the back streets ran parallel with each other,
and had no names, and were all so much alike that
it was very confusing. For instance, if you had
asked the way to Mr. So-and-So*s, it is very prob-
able that some friend would have directed you as
follows : * Go straiQ:ht forward and take the first
turning to your left, and you will find that there
are four streets, which run at right angles to the
one you are in and parallel with each other. Each
of them has got a big pine in it — one of the old
forest trees. Take the last street but one, and the
fifth white house you come to is Mr. So-and-So s.
He has green blinds and a colored servant/ You
would not always have got such clear directions as
these, but with them you would probably have
found the house at last partly by accident, partly
by the blinds and colored servant. Some of the
neicrhbors affirmed that the little white house had
a name ; that all the houses and streets had names,
only they were traditional and not recorded any-

Mrs. Ewings ^'Canada Homer 43

where ; that very few people knew them, and no-
body made any use of them. The name of the
little white house was said to be Trafalgar Villa,
which seemed so inappropriate to the modest
peaceful little home, that the man who lived in it
tried to find out why it had been so called. He
thought that his predecessor must have been in
the navy, until he found that he had been the
owner of what is called a * dry-goods store,' which
seems to mean a shop where things are sold which
are not good to eat or drink — such as drapery.
At last somebody said, that as there was a public-
house called 'The Duke of Wellington ' at the cor-
ner of the street, there probably had been a nearer
one called ' The Nelson,' which had been burnt
down, and that the man who built * The Nelson '
had built the house with a spruce fir before it, and
that so the name had arisen, — an explanation
which was just so far probable, that public-houses
and fires were of frequent occurrence in those parts."
This was the way it was when she was living
here. How fond she was of the beautiful woods,
and of always searching for, and finding the small-

44 Leaves from

est thing, seeing the fuhiess of God's great love in
all, and so, keenly appreciating it.

See how in her " Idyll of the Wood " she makes
the wise old man say : '■ Well, well, my children,
to know and love a
wood truly, it may be
that one must live in
it as 1 have done ;
and then a lifetime
will scarcely reveal
all its beaLities or ex-
haust its lessons; but
even then one must have eyes that see, and ears
that hear, or one misses a good dtal," — speak-
ing all through this delightsome Idyll as only
one who knows and sees the " woods " root and
branch can speak of its glories. I seem to feel her
very presence in those woods to-day, and love to
fancy her eager face peering among the waving
ferns for the hidden treasures, and looking up
through the thick, waving branches laced into a
canopy overhead, now in deep shade and now
flecked over with the peeping sunshine.

Mrs. Ewiiigs ^'■Canada Home''

CHAPTER V.

' HE housekeepers in this com-
munity still smile over the
recollect ions of many amus-
ing scenes in the household
of these two literary, musical,
military people, botli ^o ab-
sorbed in their special work,
making use of the smallest
amount of furniture possible, and allowing the
household to " run itself," as the saying is. Funny
times and droll mistakes are recalled, such as
the stopping of a stove-pipe hole in the chimney
with a bath sponge, causing a long search for this
article, and a smoking flue in consequence of the
stopped draught, windows being left wide to let
in winter breezes and do away with the smoke,
while the occupant of the room sat wrapped up
and complained of the cold I

46 Leaves from

Many a morning, early, the pair used to go
over to liishopscote and beg to be asked to break-
fast, as that meal had not been provided for in
their household.

However, with the most, at times, untidy aspect
of rooms, it was always a very attractive place to
visit, and many loved to go to this home with its
nameless charm of literary disorder, always some
pretty decorations, and here and there Mrs.
Ewing's own sketches pinned on the walls.

Ah, it was the gentle manner of the beautiful
hostess, — that inborn grace of spirit which in
a short conversation would cause the most critical
housekeeper to entirely forget the surroundings,
and to rejoice in that sweet society ! A visitor
would perhaps find her hostess seated on the
hearth-rug, her papers on her lap, feet outstretched,
writing away to get her manuscript complete for
the story that was to go by the English mail, an
orderly standing the while, like a wooden sen-
tinel, waiting to take the packet when it should
be ready.

Waving her pen hospitably, and going straight

WINDOW IN "REKA DOM."

Mrs. Ewings ''Canada Homer 49

on with her work, she would invite the friend
to enter — to excuse the disorder and lack of
chairs (all occupied by piles of manuscript), sug-
gesting that if the caller really wished to help
her, she could do so by gathering up the various
piles in the order of their numbering, and bring
them to her to tie up.

At one time this little mistress, so absorbed in
her great work that all else seemed of minor
importance (for which we ought to be truly thank-
ful), determined to give a dinner party in return
for the many invitations and hospitalities that
she had received. So many obstacles, in the
way of lack of proper dishes and the necessary
accoutrements for such an affair, in her limited
military establishment, arose, that they would have
daunted many a housewife, — but not our little lady
of the " great heart." Her ready wit supplied the
lack, and her own generous and liberal mind made
her believe that others were the same ; so she sent
out and borrowed all the necessary articles, in-
cluding glass, china, and silver candlesticks, from
her neighbors and friends.

50 Leaves from

Her rooms were crowded, and it was a most
brilliant affair — where the people, with apprecia-
tion of her entertainment, noticed but little the
lack of things which usually go to make up the
substance of social affairs. As the last guests
were leaving, however, there was a great uproar
heard from the basement kitchen regions of the
house, which became so pronounced that Mrs.
Ewing asked her husband to descend and inquire
into the cause thereof, as she feared the orderly
and the borrowed butler were quarrelling. He
found this indeed the case, as the two were having
a stand-up fight amid the wreck of many borrowed
articles of glass, dropped in his heat by the
butler, on the kitchen floor, while the cook was
prone upon the hearth in a semi-intoxicated state,
and literally a " heap of smoking ruins " (as Mrs.
Ewing expressed it), having put a lighted pipe
into her pocket

Her merriment over this amusing incident was
(as always) most infectious, and what to some
would have been a trial and almost a disgrace,
was turned into an amusing episode, looked

Mrs. Ewmgs '"^ Canada Homer 51

at with her full appreciation of its humorous
aspect.

Her absorption in anything which gave her an
idea for a story was really wonderful, and showed how
her active mind was always in its beloved work.

Once when she was calling at Bishopscote, the
English mail, arriving then only once or twice a
month, came, bringing to the Bishop a new book
of interesting travel and research in the Arctic
Seas. She seized upon the volume and sat down
to devour its contents, which suggested a new
theme to her. When it came time to leave she
refused to be torn away from her treasure trove,
and begged hard to be invited to " stay to tea,"
that she might finish the book. But this not
being at all possible in the Bishop's household
that special evening, she was compelled to part
with it, and going home, at once wrote out the
story it inspired, which afterward developed into
that charming tale of Kerguslen's Land, with such
a charming description of the home of the myste-
rious albatross, and the fascinating conversations
carried on between Father and Mother Albatross,

52 Leaves from

over their nest of little ones, about the cast-away
man, — Father Albatross discoursing about him in
this fashion, in superior contempt: —

" They are very curious creatures " (he says to
Mother A.). " The fancy they have for wandering
about between sea and sky when nature has not
enabled them to support themselves in either, is
truly wonderful ! "

The whole dialogue is most delightful, showing
her marvellous insight throughout this, as in all
her other wonderful animal stories, both of birds
and furry folk. She would forget all else in read-
ing a book, and become wrapped in a dream of re-
producing an idea suggested by some subject in it.
How keenly she saw from a child's eyes, and with
a child's mind its outlook on life, is shown by the
" real child " language in those stories where the
child hero or heroine are made to, as it were, tell
the story themselves ; " Mary s Meadow" and " Flat-
iron for a F'arthing " being especially good exam-
ples of this wonderful power of hers, of being able
to see from all points.

Here is another sweet recollection: While Mrs.

Mrs. Ewin^s "Canada Home."

Ewing was living here, a little lad was very ill, and
kept within doors all winter. Our tender little
lady used to go every evening, towards dusk
("story time"), and tell to him the most beauti-
ful stories by firelight.

54 Leaves from

This " story-telling " was a great gift of hers,
as her sister relates in her account of her child-
hood. And the stories were so wonderful, and,
told in her own sweet manner, so irresistible, that
a group of grown folks usually crowded about the
door of the room where she was " telling a story "
to that favored little boy !

Her lessons to her class in Sunday School were
made so attractive that the class next to hers
had hard work not to neglect their own lessons
and teacher in listening to her most interesting
way of putting things.

Mrs. Ewhigs ^'■Canada Homer

55

CHAPTER VI.

T

HE Cathedral of Fredericton
was a great source of comfort
and pleasure to Mrs. Ewing, who was
always devoted to her church, and did
not expect to find so beautiful a speci-
men architecturally of an English
church in our Canadian land.

Her husband was organist in this choir during
their stay, and wrote many beautiful musical com-
positions during his lifetime, perhaps the best
known being that grand hymn " Jerusalem the
Golden," which has sometimes been wrongly at-
tributed to his uncle, Bishop Ewing.^ He also
conducted the Choral Society, of which she speaks

^ Major Alexander Ewing passed away in the summer of 1895,
and in the interesting account of his life, printed at the time in the
" Aberdeen Times," there is special mention made of his wonderful
musical abilities.

56 Leaves from

in her letters. How dearly she loved to sit in her
seat in that choir, listening to the inspired tones
from her beloved husbands hands, under her
revered Bishop, and opposite to her friend his
wife !

Sometimes to-day, when one sees this latter
gentle lady sitting in her accustomed place in the
choir, one can fancy that the scene before her
fades away, leaving but the two faces she loved so
well, — that of " her dear Lord " in his Bishops seat,
and of the sweet singer opposite to her. For, as
this singer herself says, in " The Story of a Short
Life," *' Can the last parting do much to hurt such
friendships between good souls, who have so long
learnt to say farewell ; to love in absence, to trust
through silence, and to have faith in reunion "i ''
Surely, blessed are such reunions!

In this seat in the choir did our little lady love
to sit, much enjoying always the beauty of the
Cathedral with its many rich parts, each having
its own special meaning in ornament, in window,
and in the very shape of the building itself, all
bearing witness to the deep thought and reverent

CAIHEUKAL Ot HtEUEklCTON.

i

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer 59

care bestowed upon its structure by him who
was its first Bishop, who for so many years de-
voted his life to its erection. The rich chime of
bells, and much of the ornamentation, were brought
over by his efforts from England, and in the
shadow of its beautiful spire his body rests to-day,
close under its gray walls, which are a fitting
memorial to his love and zeal for his church
and its people.

There she must often have watched, as we can
to-day, the red coats of the officers as they filed
up the centre aisle of the church, with much
clanking of swords and ringing of spurred heels.
And out of the beautiful Eastern Door she has
looked in loving admiration, seeing through its
stone Gothic curves, in the soft light of a sum-
mer evening, the arches of the graceful branch-
ing trees over the path beyond. As I sketched
this seat of hers, the verger handed me an anthem
composed by Major Ewing, with this, to me at
that time, singularly meaning-full title, " Why seek
ye the living among the dead .'^" which seemed so
to fit her own hopeful views of death.

6o Leaves from

In many of Mrs. Ewing's clever sketches about
Fredericton the old gray willows appear. She
used to form merry parties of sketchers, herself
always ready to help and offer assistance to unac-
customed hands.

The spire of her beloved Cathedral is also often
seen, taken from all points of view; and much
of her time was spent within the hospitable, vine-
covered walls of Bishopscote, — of which we have
a little picture, with a glimpse of its gentle
minister's wife in the doorway, to whose aid we
owe so njany of these recollections.

Here she always made herself quite at home, —
running in and out at all times, finding in the
Bishop's wife a loving friend andadmonisher, though
the latter must often have been sorely tried by our
little lady's caprices and unpractical experiments.

Like a child, her bright, joyous nature seized
upon any novel experience with pleasure, and
any play was entered into with zest.

Once in the attic she discovered an old set of
battledore and shuttlecock, and soon had every
one in a merry game. And to-day, there may be

^

F.ASTtRS ixmk OK THK CAIKKDRAL

Mrs. Ewing's "Canada Homer 63

seen, in testimony of her eager play, a broken
battledore belonging to the old set !

BlSHOPStOI t.

Her love of doing everything, whether she
understood the mechanical part of it or not, was
shown once when she came to Bishopscote, and,
finding every one busily engaged on some work:
for church decoration, she determined to work with
them, and insisted that she should be allowed to
do so. Thereupon she proceeded to cut out the

64 Leaves from

letters for an illuminated text, — from the only
paper obtainable for it, — but cut them every one
071 1 on the wrong side of the paper, so that
upon turning them all were backward ! She
crushed them up in her hands and declared all
would be right, for slie would send to England
for more paper; but upon being told how impos-
sible this would be, as the work had to be ready
for the morrow, her contrition was great ! Down
upon her knees she went, with her hands in a
prayerful attitude before her, and, supplicating
them all to forgive her for her naughtiness, drove
away the cloud caused by her mischievousness,
with her droll merry manners, as was always
her way of doing, from a child.

Her love of fun was so irresistible, her repent-
ance for wrong-doing so great, the sternest heart
could not hold anything against her. Many a
scrape has she got her beloved doggies out of,
by her manner of turning away the wrath of their
accusers ; for the love she bore these dogs, great
and small, was wonderful.

M_Y AARS^ OVER-THE-WAY
ifj HER DOOF^

>i\^ -M.

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer

CHAPTER VII.

» ACK of the town there is a
range of low hills, and on
that part of it to which the
University of New Brunswick
has given the name of College
Road, she used to walk and
enjoy its Canadian aspect. It was from that point
many of her lovely sketches in color were painted.
Here, also, in the winter, she and her husband,

with their dear friends tlie Misses R and

others, used to walk on snow-shoes, and sit un-
der shelters made of fir boughs, going over their
Hebrew study together, or singing with their keen
love for music. The Ewings greatly enjoyed the
" musical evenings " (of which she speaks in one of
the letters printed here) spent with these friends
while in Fredericton.

68 Leaves from

In her walks over these hills, and in the gardens
of the town, she found many new flower friends.

The Trillium she first saw here, and it was a
great joy to her, with its beauty and grace. After
returning to England she had some seeds of this
plant sent out to her, and tried to grow it there,
and it inspired her to write the beautiful legend
of " The Trinity Flower," in which she immortal-
izes this pure blossom of our wilds, thus describing
its beauty : " Every part was threefold. The
leaves were three, the petals three, the sepals three.
The flower was snow white, but on each of the
three parts it was shaded with crimson stripes, like
white garments dyed in blood."

The Lily of the Valley was another special
favorite of hers, and inspired the graceful legend
which she wrote, wherein she calls the plant " Lad-
ders to Heaven," saying, " It hath a rare and deli-
icate perfume, and having many white bells on
many footstalks up the stem, one above the other,
as the angels stood in Jacob s dream, the common
children call it * Ladders to Heaven.' "

She found so many new wild flowers, that she

Mrs. Ewings ^^ Canada Homer 71

made an extensive collection, of which she speaks
in one letter, and I am told that she also added the
Mellicite Indian names to her specimens, through
the aid of her Indian "brother" of whom she speaks,

MRS. EWINGS FARN i

Peter Poultice, who came from his encampment
(there to-day) just across the river to visit his inter-
ested friends, the pale faces from over the great
ocean, and to sell them bead work and moccasons,
as is the custom of the red brother here always.

They had a canoe from him, and Mrs. Ewing
was remarkably fearless in this frail craft for one
so unaccustomed to such venturous boating. The
temptations to her, of the many beautiful views on

72 Leaves from

and about this great broad river St. John, and of
being able with a canoe to enter the lovely little
streams which flow into it, made her enjoy it
keenly.

1 can fancy her delight in the great beauty of
those two streams, the Nash-waak, and the Nash-
wa-sis (or little Nashwaak), known to every canoe
lover in these parts.

THE OLD NASHWAAK BRIDGE.

This picturesque bridge is the entrance to that
lovely little stream the Nashwaak, which she
describes in her letter that tells of their picnics
in canoes. It was evidently then as it is now,
except that the graceful bridge has been replaced

Mrs. Ewmgs " Canada Homer 73

by a hideous structure, which I am glad her artist
eye did not have to see in those days. And to-day
the sawdust from the great ruthless mill at the
head of the stream is fast filling up and spoiling
the beautiful wavy stream, narrowing it even to the
exclusion of canoes.

Leaves from

CHAPTER VIII.

yER great fondness for flowers
is seen all through her writ-

■Jji'i'lp '"^^' ^"'^ ^^^ "Letters from a

]^A Little Garden " shows her prac-

tical experience in flower growing
and tending. In her books she gives good ad-
vice to other flower lovers, quoting from Charles
Dudley Warner's " My Summer in a Garden," with
a full appreciation of its delicious humor.

In her verses and maxims for use in garden-
ing (" Garden Lore "), two trite maxims bespeak
the thorough sympathy she had for plants and
plant growers. She says, in this " Garden Lore,"
" Cut a rose for your neighbor, and it will tell two
buds to blossom for you ; " and again : " Enough
comes out of anybody's old garden in autumn to
stock a new one for somebody else. But you want

Mrs. Ewmgs " Canada Homer 75

sympathy on one side, and sense on the other, and
they are rarer than most perennials ! "

How sorely tried such a lover of plants and
"little gardens" must have been in her life as
an officer s wife, sent from post to post, at having
to break up her homes, leaving many little gardens
just started !

How tenderly, in the letter written from Alder-
shot Camp back to Fredericton, shortly after she
returned to England, does she speak of her house
plants there, and the care she takes of them ! She
was very fond of the dear old English custom of
having house mottoes ; and the one reproduced in
the front of this book she had painted and framed,
to hang on the wall of each new home : —

" Ut migraturus, habita,^^
" Dwell as if about to depart ! ''

Another favorite one of her many house mottoes
is this cleverly arranged Latin one, curtailing one
word into four meanings : —

" A more, more, ore, r<f."
" By love, by manners, by word, b}* action ! "

76 Leaves from

Things with meanings rejoiced her heart, and
her own sweet namesake flower, the Chinese Prim-
rose, which is about her portrait here, was a
favorite with her; and it seems to make the little
primrose as familiar to us as a choice potted plant,
dearer and nearer, to know of its association with
her. A spray of this flower is carved upon her
quiet tomb at Trull.

This letter was written shortly after her return
to England.

Mrs. Ewings Letter.

25 Feb.^ 1870.
X Lines S. Camp, Aldershot.

My dear B : We were delighted to get

yours (and M. s) long letters. We have many kind
correspondents in Fredericton, and all the news
interests us. You have had a wonderful winter.
Here we have had a little — so cold — that frozen
sponges, cruelly killed plants, and cutting winds
piercing our wooden walls, quite recalled New
Brunswick! ... I used to take my poor plants
into my bedroom at night, and cover them up —

\

Airs. Ewings ''Canada Honied 77

but all in vain ; they were frozen as completely
as in D J s ** old barn ! *'

But oh ! I do revel in the spring days we get
now from time to time. I long to see primroses
— and I have not seen a daisy for three years.
How I hope they won't send us away first to
"furrin" parts! We still know nothing about our
future. We have many charming friends here,
and are very comfortable. Mr. Ewing has a very
nice organ to play upon at " All Saints' " near
here. We often go there on Sunday, for he plays
very often at the services, and there is also a
Wednesday evening service at which he always
plays. But we have very few week-day services,
and miss the daily prayer at the Cathedral very
much indeed. If at our next station we have
more "church privileges," it will go far to recon-
cile me to the move. I hope to go home before
we settle again. Indeed, we have promised my
mother to do so if all be well. . . .

We had an evening party the other night in
our tiny habitation ! We turned out of our bed-
room (which opens into the drawing-room), and

y8 Leaves from

I made a pretty little coffee-room of it. All went
off very well, but it seems dreary work to me to
have a commonplace evening when we have been
used to musical ones ! I fear we could not get
one up here. And then the rooms are too small.
The dining-room is so narrow that we could only
sit on one side of the supper table. . . .

At the beginning of this month I was very busy
composing valentines for my sisters, etc., etc., and
Rex insisted on having one, so I had to make
one for him, of which Trouve was the subject!
That dear old boy is very well, and in fine con-
dition. We have another dog also living with
us, and they are great friends. Trouve sleeps
with us, and the other sleeps with my maid.

Do you know whether the S s are still in

Fredericton ? I have often wondered what be-
came of them in the giving up of the barracks.
They are very unpractical — poor souls — and I
would like to hear if they were doing well or ill.
Can you find out for me, my dear ?

We are very glad to hear how the Choral S.
holds on. The other day, we and some friends

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Home" 79

of ours went to the Crystal Palace, and heard
Mendelssohn's (Lobgesang). We did enjoy it !
One verse of the choral was sung in unison by all
voices (about two hundred and fifty or more).
Imagine the effect ! My husband's love and mine.
Trouve's respects to Thistle.

Yours, dear B , very affectionately,

JlliaNA HORATIA EwiNG.

How like lier own dear
If is this rare plant,
coming from a far-
away land, but famil-

1' ... ■ ,r

fii lanzing itself

to us so sweetly
in an every-day

life, until now it is a household favorite ! It is not
hard to understand the deep hold she obtained on

8o Mrs. Ewings " Canada Home."

the hearts of her Canadian friends, in the all too
short years she spent with us, on this continent.
And now, comes a budget of her own brilliant
letters which we are indeed fortunate in secur-
ing, full of a sweet personality and gayety — in
whose glowing pages we can see more clearly
into the character and life of our dear friend than
in any other way now possible to us. They are
indeed a rich treat, and cannot fail to reawaken
our love for her, and to help towards keeping
that sweet memory '* green " in our hearts. In
fact, the sketches and letters taken together seem
to be an autobiography almost, written and illus-
trated by herself, of her life with us.

MRS. EWING'S LETTERS

AND

FAC-SIMILES OF HER WATER-COLOR SKETCHES

MADE WHILE IN FREDERICTON.

Mrs. Ewing's Letters.

Fredericton, New Brunswick,
July, 1867.

My dear Mrs. Ewing, — . . . Since we must
be " abroad '' somewhere, I do not think we could
well have been more fortunate in a station than
we are in being sent here. There is that most
disagreeable Atlantic between us and Great Bri-
tain, but otherwise it is in many respects very
like home. We hear rather appalling accounts
of the winter, but we were told awful things of the
summer heats ; and yet (except for occasional op-
pressive days) we have found it delightful. It is
rather blazing in the morning often, and makes
one rather giddy if one attempts to walk much;
but the evenings and nights are delicious, and
quite cool. Fredericton is on the river, and all

86 Leaves from

by the river side it is lovely, and we have not yet
been able to decide by what lights and at what
time of day it looks most beautiful. Very fine
willows grow on the bank, and the fireflies float
about under them like falling stars. The moon-
light and starlight nights are splendid, and the
skies are particularly beautiful. We were detained
for some days both at Halifax and at S. John ;
but we are very glad that our lot has fallen here
rather than in either of those places. Halifax has
lovely country near it, but S. John is a town pure
and simple; and I think if one must live in a
town one likes it to be as highly civilized a city
as possible. S. John is more like a watering
place without the shore. I suppose the New
Brunswickers would be duly indignant at my not
calling Fredericton a town, for it is a city! but it
is all in lovely country, the streets are planted with
trees, and have no names, and there are very few
lamps ; most of them are like shady lanes, with
pretty wooden houses with (generally) very pretty
faces at the windows ! For another attraction
which this place possesses is the beauty of the

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Home.^^ 87

women, both of the upper and lower classes. Not
that we have seen any one very beautiful woman
(such as one sometimes sees at home) but that,
almost every girl you meet is v^xy pretty, and very
gentle and sweet looking. The young ladies have
particularly pleasant, unaffected manners, too. . . ,
The ferns, flowers, mosses, and lichens in the
woods about here are most beautiful, and it is an
utterly new pleasure to me to find so many plants
I have never seen. In fact, the botany of these
parts seems richly luxuriant, and to have been
very little investigated. I have dried a few things
in my blotting-books, etc., but we have no appara-
tus with us. How^ever, we have ordered two
boards at the carpenter's for a press, and when
we have out a box from England we shall have
some proper paper and portfolio sent — and I hope
we shall be able to bring home some specimens
of the beautiful things out here. For want of
proper means to preserve those we first got, I
have been making rough coloured sketches of
them in a note-book of Alexander's which we have
devoted to the purpose ; and whenever we meet

88 Leaves from

anybody who seems likely to be knowing on the
subject, we ask the names of the flowers. Some
have exquisite perfumes, which, unhappily, one can
neither figure nor preserve ! One almost wonders
that more plants from this country are not culti-
vated in England, as whatever can stand these
winters would well live with us. We have just
heard of some wonderful orchids in a bog two or
three miles away, and I am greatly impatient to
get at them, for vegetation is so rapid here, — the
flowers are out and then gone in a day or two. . . .
I am sending you a small sketch of our house,
and also one from a hasty sketch I made in my
note-book as we came up the river into Frederic-
ton. It was, in fact, our first view of our new
home. . . . You cannot think how lovely it is
coming up the river from S. John to this place.
The colouring is so exquisite, the sky and clouds
are so beautiful, the pine woods look at times the
richest purple in the distance; and the foliage of
the white birches, and brushwood, and grass near
the shore, was of most vivid pale greens when
we came up. I suppose in autumn, when the

^

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Home'' 89

maple trees turn scarlet, it will be lovelier still.

People say that whatever you may have heard or

read about American woods in autumn, nothing

but seeing them can give you an idea of the
wonderful brilliancy of their colours. . . .

I must tell you about our house. You will, I
think, be amused at its palatial appearance ; it is
much larger than necessary, though Rex justly
says I always give it a more magnificent appear-
ance on paper than it really possesses. It has,
however, twenty-one rooms in it I ! though they
are not very large ones. He could keep an hotel
— or invite my seven brothers and sisters to visit
me. We talk of giving Trot (the dog) a bed-
room, sitting-room (and he might have a dressing-
room ! ) to himself when he arrives. Don t think
us quite mad ! We had much humbler inten-
tions, but it fell out thus: When we arrived we
were told we should have to wait a long time for
a house, as none were vacant ; of course it w^as
desirable to get one as soon as possible. The
second day, Rex discovered this one, which was
in a fearful state of disrepair, but was being put

90 Leaves from

in order by the landlord ; he took it, and we are
only furnishing just what we want. It has many
great advantages. It is in the best situation we
could have chosen, there is a well of good water,
we have very nice neighbours, and we are close
to the Cathedral. We are not overlooked, and
have a lovely lookout over the river, with a ferry-
boat just opposite to our front door. There is
ample space for a good garden, and our landlord
is building us a huge sort of barn, which I fancy
is to embrace coach-house, stables etc., and which
(as we possess no equipage) I think will have to
be devoted to the pig we purpose to keep ; he
will consequently have as much spare space as
ourselves I Fancy Alexander coming in yesterday
and announcing to me his intention (please the
pigs!) of fattening a porker for Christmas!! An
officer has told him that a young pig may be
bought for half a dollar, and live on the house-
hold refuse till Christmas, and then either be
killed or sold. As we neither of us like pork, I
think our " little pig will go to market ! " Most
opportunely in turning out his (very untidy)

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Home'' 91

drawers yesterday he found a half dollar which
had been there since he was in China, so we may
look upon the pig as purchased — so to speak.

August ist, 1867. " K^eka Dom,"
Fredericton, N. B.

My dearest Father, — I am going to write to
you this time. . . . We have had some very rainy
weather, and some intensely hot (even Rex allow-
ing that it was overpowering and like China).
To-day, a cloudless sky and brilliant sun, but a
refreshing breeze ; and what breeze is to be got,
we get, — living by the river. Did I tell mother
of that beautiful thunder-storm we saw just before
leaving our last hotel t The sky had been of
such a blue as I never saw, — a pure, intense,
• opaque, speedwell colour. It seems a poor compari-
son, but it reminded me of the blue which they
use on church or cathedral roofs with golden
stars, and which is usually deeper and more intense
than the sky which it represents. On this were
wonderful cumulus clouds of splendid tints.
One grand mass standing off in awfully powerful

92 Leaves from

relief, against a golden glow, reminded us of
Sinai, when the mount burned with fire, and
one expected to see the tables of the law appear.
These mountainous masses faded after sunset,
and then two other currents of very electrical
appearance touched each other, and till dark
we watched them emitting the loveliest lightning
I ever saw. The sheet lightning was incessant,
and the forked ran among it and cleft the clouds
in the most lovely way. They had a ludicrous
resemblance to two gigantic and wonderful fire-
stones perpetually rubbed together. Rex fetched
me to see this storm from the other side of the
house, where I was frantically splashing paint
on to paper, trying to catch the sunset sky,
against which stood off one of the houses they
build here for the swallows. . . '.

Last Thursdav we went to dine at Government
House, the first time, — about twenty-two people, —
and as we were in the very worst of our difficulties
a capital dinner was an absolute treat! The gene-
ral introduced me to the Bishop, and he took
me in to dinner. I enjoyed it immensely, for

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homey 93

he is very clever and awfully amusing, and told
me the funniest anecdotes. He has been away
until now, but next day he and Mrs. Medley
called on us, and we like them both extremely.
Mrs. Medley told us some clergyman has been
raving in their house about mothers writings,
and had said that whole pieces were taken out
of Aunt Judy's Magazine into American news-
papers, sometimes without an acknowledgment.
When he went away, the Bishop looked at me
in his point-blank way and said, very kindly, after
his rather awkward fashion, " If you would like
to see Maryland Church, I will drive you there, —
not to-morrow, Saturday is a busy day with me,
but next w^eek." Isn't it kind? So I expect we
shall probably get to see some of the country in
very good company. Yesterday he preached both
A. M. and p. M., and I really doubt if any of our
English swells beat him, on the whole. The learn-
ing, the logic, the irrepressible irony at times, the
intense simplicity, and the exquisite touches of
pathos, I hardly think Oxon, Vaughan, Eber, or
anybody could excel. He preached a. m. on the

94 Leaves from

** whole creation groaning," etc., and brought out
a forcible and (to me) new idea, — that if we had
been alive in any of the periods of great "' disturb-
ance *' of the physical world (the glacial or vol-
canic, etc.), our faith would probably have failed
to foresee the physical beauty and order that
would come out of it all : the rocks on the
sunny hillside, the waters in their own places,
the flowers, etc., etc. ; and that, although the divi-
sions of the Church of Christ, the distractions and
confusions and inconsistencies which make Chris-
tianity seem almost useless, the darkness of dis-
pensations and all the disturbance of the moral
world, make one inclined to give up hope, we
were to draw comfort from creation. He had
been charmingly sarcastic in the hastiness and
almost invariable erroneousness of mans very
self-satisfied judgment of providence in all times ;
but there was a sort of grave authority that was
very impressive as he admonished us that since
God had loved His lower creation so well as to
bring such beautiful order out of such ghastly
confusion, He would bring out of all the moral

Mrs. Ewing's " Canada Homey 95

disorder and disturbance a new heaven and a new
earth for those whom Jesus died to redeem.
Towards the end he gave a practical turn, and
speaking of the love of Christ, — *' a love such as
no earthly friend can feel for us, suffering as no
earthly friend ever suffered for one, interced-
ing as no earthly friend can plead, a Home at
last such as no one who loves us can provide
here, however they may wish and try." He uses
very simple, forcible language, has a voice as
soft as Vaughan's, and it is as clear as a bell.
He hardly ever lifts his eyes, and uses no action
whatever. His premises and deductions, his biting
bits of sarcasm, and his touches of pathos go down
the Cathedral without the slightest assistance from
"delivery;" but they are just the reverse of the
style of sermon which Goulburn calls ** like the
arrow shot at a venture that hit King Ahab,"
with the difference that they seldom hit anybody
in particular. When he is most severe he looks
so awfully innocent, p. m. he preached on Rizpah,
the daughter of Aiah, and the execution of Saul's
sons. It was cleverer than the other, — one of the
ablest bits of Biblical criticism one ever heard.

96 Leaves from

Rex said the composition seemed to him so per-
fect. It really is a wonderful piece of good fortune
to be under him. He has been out here twenty-
two years (or more, — I forget), and he turns up
at the 7.30 A. M. daily services, and walks into the
Cathedral with a pastoral staff much bigger than
himself. Tell Regie I have got a *' relic '' for him
which I will send him. It is a bit of lichen from
the nameless grave of one of the first settlers here.
In old Judge Parkers garden (a very pretty place,

*

with a lovely peep of the river through trees, like
an Italian lake), in a field, are the graves of the
first settlers. On one are some rudely cut initials,
the last being " B." It was really an affecting
sight, amid the prosperity to which this lovely
spot has attained. One imagines how beautiful
it must have looked to their eyes as a spot to
" settle " in. We have made out a great many
both of the ferns and flowers, and we have a good
many in press, and to-day I am going to try and
get some paper to " fix " them in. . . .
Ever, my dearest Father,

Your loving daughter,

J. H. EwiNG.

\

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Home'^ 97

iiTH Sunday after Trinity, 1867.

We have the most charming room, with two
windows looking east to the river; Rex says the
view beats the Lake Hotel at Killarney ! He
wakes at unearthly hours, and lies wrapt in the
enjoyment of using a telescope in bed!! He kept
us awake from 3 a. m. the first morning, looking
at the view, and indeed it was lovely, — the white
mist rolling off the river, sunrise behind the pine
woods and willows, and canoes coming down
reminding one of Hiaw^atha's *' Like a yellow leaf
it floated." They do look just like autumn leaves
floating on the water. I don't think Rex will
exist long without one ! . . .

Last Friday we were asked to Government House

for a picnic. . . . We went across the river, and by

water up the Nashwaak Cis. (i. e.. Little Nashwaak),

and landed at a very pretty spot, where we ate

luncheon off such lovely old china I wonder his

Excellency had the heart to risk it at a picnic!

The A. D. C. lent Rex his own boat, that Rex

might row me there. I told him I must have a

7

qS Leaves from

good wrap and got a buffalo robe to keep me warm,
and sat like a queen in the stern. There were lots
of canoes and a few boats. . . Coming back down
the Cis it was lovely, half dark, and the canoes
gliding past among the shadows. The Cis was
very narrow and required careful steering. I got
some new water lilies. When w^e got into the big
river again, the wind was very high, and it was
nearly dark, and the waves were quite wonderful.
. . the canoes found it tiresome work. There was
a dance afterwards at Government House, but we
left in good time, and walked home. About half-
past one, I was roused by Rex asking if anything
was the matter. I could hear nothing, but he ex-
claimed, " It's the fire-bell!'' and jumped up like a
shot.

[I must tell you that, the day the Medleys left,
the Bishop told us that he had told his next-door
neighbour where the church plate was, in case of
a fire, and what he specially wished to be saved,
adding that the man had looked at a long box and
said : " Is this valuable } " " Very," said the Bishop,
" What is it } Music ? " on which, as the Bishop

^n^^'i.'s?

Mrs. Ewin£s " Canada Homer loi

said he did not seem to see it, Rex said, " Well, if
there's a fire, /must save the music."]

Well, when I went into the bath-room and saw
the blaze in the sky, it seemed to me to come from
the Medleys, so I told Rex. " Then I must save
the anthems!" he cried in a thunderous voice (it
was almost amusing), and of¥ he went We
could n't find matches, so he dressed in the dark,
and in the dark I was left. I could hear the
peculiar roar of the fire, and see the flames rising
up through the open window. I got awfully
lonely, so I awoke " Sarah " with much difficulty and
got a light, and told her to make a fire and get tea
ready for Rex when he returned, and went back to
the window to watch. Time went on, the fire got
larger, and no Rex returned. At last I got so
nervous I wrapped up, left the house, took my
maid with me, and went ofif to find the fire, — and
Rex ! When we got to the Cathedral and Bishops-
cote happily it was not there, so on we went. Fire
is very delusive at night, and I may as well say it
was in the position of the Bishop s palace, only
about a quarter of a mile or more further up the

I02 Leaves from

town. As we got nearer we seemed to be going
into the blaze of falling sparks, and at last we found
it. We had passed the place an hour or so before !
It was a square called Phoenix Square, and how
many times it has risen from its own ashes I know
not, but the other half of the square was burned
down just before we came, and w^hen Sarah and
I reached the spot, not one stone was left upon
another, or rather not one plank, for it was wood,
of course. But a large building at the corner, — a
brick house, offices, — which had held out sometime,
was in full blaze. It was a wonderful sight. The
flames poured out of the windows, and licked round
the walls, reminding one of the fire that licked u\)
the water in the trench round Elijah s sacrifice.
Rex was with the other officers, keeping an eye
on the fuel-vard which was near, and from which
soldiers were employed in sweeping away the burn-
ing embers as they fell. It was most providential
that the wind set over the river instead of over the
city, otherwise, being a dry night, high wind, and
the fire engines about as available as a boy s squirt,
probably two-thirds of the town would have gone.

Mrs, Ewings " Canada Homer 103

An almost comical element (as one didn't suffer
one's self) was to see the spectators, who kept get-
ting the falling sparks into their eyes, going about
with pocket-handkerchiefs to their faces. Also a
small boy who laid a complaint to Major Graham
against the soldiers who wore protecting the rescued
property, because they would n't give him some
small article that belonged to him. The disgusting
part is that these fires are said to be almost always
the work of incendiaries. . . .

Your loving sister.

J. H. EwiNG.

17 August, 1867.
;k,\ Dhm." FRFnF.Ri.

Mv DEAREST

Mother, — . . . Now
I must tell you all
our news. First about
the Episcopal family.
You know they have
been away for five
weeks, and we met

1 04 Leaves from

them first at Government House. Since then they
have certainly done their best to make up for
lost time, in the way of kindness, and it is not
the least of the many blessings of my home here
to have such very kind people about one, as our
neighbours in general are, and such unusually
good, intellectual, and friendly friends as the Med-
leys. He was a friend of John Newman, and
associated with him in working at the Lives of
the Fathers, etc., and Newman s secession was a
great grief to him. He is awfully fond of music,
and composes chants, etc. He is a fluent Hebrew
scholar, and is certainly, as I told you, one of the
ablest preachers I ever heard. He has been very
near to going home to the council that is to be
held at Lambeth, only he could not make out that
the subjects of discussion had been settled, so was
not certain that it would come to much, and had
confirmations here, and did not like to bring Mrs.
Medley back in winter, for she is nearly as bad a
sailor as I am, or you might have seen them, and
heard of us. They are great admirers of yours.
Especially they are devoted to the Parables. Mrs.

Mrs. Ewing^s " Canada Homey 105

Medley told me to-day they owe you so much, she
was delighted to do anything for your daughter; so
you see, dear mother, you have, so to speak, pro-
vided me a motherly friend in these distant parts.
She is a great gardener and a botanist, and litho-
graphs a little. . . . They are going away again
on a Confirmation tour directly, but meanwhile we
see them constantly ; they ask us in perpetually to
meals, and send us vegetables and flowers. I need
hardly say that Rex and Episcopus himself are
pretty inseparable at '' the instrument," and that
Rex is appointed supplementary organist, and has
joined the choir. He is going to play at the anni-
versary festival next Sunday, and the choir gener-
ally are quite as much edified and charmed to see
the author of " Jerusalem," and quite as much as-
tonished to find (and still a little sceptical) that
" Argyle and the Isles " was not the composer, as if
we all were living in a small English watering
place. This you would anticipate ; but you would
hardly expect to hear that the Bishop evolved and
propounded to me the proposal, that if I would
teach him German this winter, he would teach me

io6 Leaves from

Hebrew. He buys books evidently with an appe-
tite, and will lend us any,, so we are well off to
an extent that seems marvellous and is truly
delightful.

We have free access to the Provincial Library
here. This is an admirable theological and grave
library, all Jeremy Taylor s, and almost every ordi-
nary theological reference book, besides Greek and
Hebrew grammars and lexicons. I am absolutely
the only member at this present time! At the
present moment I have all " Nature and Art " (for
the water-colour lessons,) and Rex has Blunts
"Undersigned Coincidences" from the Bishop.
I have Harding's ** Lessons on Art" and a book
on colour from the Provincial, and Alex. Knox
from the Cathedral, libraries. We onlv want a
modern foreign library to be perfect, so as to get
at Schiller, or Fausl for the Bishop. As it is, we
mean to put him through Grimm ! ! !

I am just now very busy upon an interior of the
Cathedral, at which I work, while Rex practises.
I have got some good hints from Harding s book
about drawing the arches, etc. I got dreadfully

Mrs. Ewings ''''Canada Homer 107

grieved at my stupidity over the colouring about
here. I do wish I were a better artist! and Rex
thinks I have gone back rather than forward.
However, I have got some good books here, and
I mean to work hard this w^inter indoors. I think
my " interior " looks wonderfully promising so
far.

I am going to save seed of all the wild flowers
I can, and shall send it home, so have a nice sunny
bit got ready to sow them in ! You know what
lives here will live with you, and some of the
flowers are truly lovely. Spotted yellow lilies and
splendid Michaelmas daisies grow wild, and a
lovely white flower, something like a white foxglove
(a Chelone glabra !), which I hope will seed itself
like a foxglove, and so be easily grown. Beautiful
spireas too ; and oh ! the pitcher plants grow here,
but we have not seen them. One plant held four
or five quarts of water, they tell us.

Your loving daughter,

J. H. EWING.

1 08 Leaves from

October, 1867.

My dearest Mother, — I wish you could come

in this moment ! I have got a nice wood fire in

my grate (for it is a coolish morning, one of

those clear fresh mornings that I fancy we shall

have pretty consistently through the autumn). 1

am afraid I shall hardly have time this mail, but

I must make you a sketch of my room ! " Sarah ''

has a great admiration for my table of little

things (of which she always leaves the dusting

to me). She says "Mrs. Coster" (her former

mistress) " had a great many little things, too, not

so many as you^ ma'am, but then she was burnt

out three times ; but any little things she did

save she was very choice of. She saved one plate
out of her dessert service/* The coolness with

which people regard being " burnt out " here is
amazing ! ! The day of the fire Sarah was telling
me all sorts of " burning out " anecdotes. Some
people seem to be under a sort of evil spell as
regards it. " The fire hunts him everywhere."
There is a certain man she told me of, and wher-
ever he settles fire follows him ! ! One could

Mrs. Ewings ^'Canada Honied 109

make a splendid Salamander story from it in the
Edgar Poe style ! One comical idea one can
quite understand, viz., that as much is broken as
burnt in these fires often. Sarah told me of one
in which, in his anxiety to save, a man flung a
fine mirror out of the window into the street, to
save it from the flames. Of course it was smashed
to shivers !

I have got you a dial, and mean to make the
sketch, and send it herewith. It is in the garden
of a little old lady here, a Mrs. Shore. She is
very tiny and very old. She goes to the 7.30 ser-
vice like clockwork, has a garden, paints life-size
portraits in oils ! ! and complains that, " between
housekeeping, literature, and the fine arts, she
never has time for anything." I sat v/ith her last
night for a bit. *' Do you find the days long
enough, my dear .'^ " "Not one-half," I said; ''but
they say the winter is long." " You will never
find it long enough, my dear.''

The woods now are lovely. The autumn tints
are beyond describing, or colouring. One day I
began a sketch, but it is most unsatisfactory, and

no Leaves from

now it is raining, and I am so afraid of getting
no more opportunity. A tree stands off against
a grey woody background, and it is a brilliant
yellow and crimson. Sometimes a whole tree is
canary colour, and another near it one uniform
rich deep red, another like bronze, and so on.
They are not all so by any means, of course; but
in the '' College Grove," as it is called (which is
something like a beautiful bit of English pasture,
and park, and wood scenery), are the loveliest
varieties of colour.

I had a jolly drive with the Medleys the other
day. We got out and went across country a bit,
over hedges and ditches, and I sketched a little at
intervals. Once I said, " I really hope we may
be here another summer, that I may get some of
these trees done,'' and the Bishop groaned, " Don't
talk of another summer! you must stay here for-
ever." Rex is still at the organ, and the Bishop
bristles with new chants. Rex is at work on a
Christmas anthem ; words my choosing.

Recit. and Bass Solo, " And Balaam said : I
shall see him, but not now. I shall behold Him,

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Horned 1 1 1

but not nigh. Alio Solo. There shall come a
Star out of Israel. {Chorus, A Star out of Israel).
Quartet. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A Sceptre of Righteousness is the Sceptre of
Thy Kingdom.'' Final chorus not decided on. I
must stop.

Your loving sister,

J. H, E.

January 26, 1868.

My dearest Mother, — . . . I must tell you
about the sleigh drive. It was given by Col.
Harding (who is the temporary governor as well).
The etiquette of such affairs is, that the leader
drives wherever he likes, and the other sleighs must
go after him. (They say General Doyle used to
go into the most audacious places to try and upset
the tandems !) The young men ask the young
ladies to drive with them as they would ask them
to dance, and we old couples go Darby and Joan
together. Rex got a nice little sleigh with buffalo
robes in it, and the horse went capitally. We met
before the House of Assembly, and kept driving

112 Leaves from

round and round in circles till all assembled (about
twenty-six sleighs). Then, bells ringing, red tassels
waving, away we went. The colonel took us in
and out about the town, but no really nasty places,
and then into the barrack-yard, where the soldiers
cheered, and his horses got so unmanageable that
he and his young lady nearly came to grief ; then
out into the open country. I don't think I ever
saw anything much prettier than the line of jingling
sleighs, flying over the snowy roads, with the pure
fields of snow on all sides broken by the dark firs
and country homesteads. Once we went up a
narrow hill meet to be drawn by Dore (or rather
Dore might give one a faint idea of its beauty),
snow pure white before us and under our feet, and
great dark firs on each side almost touching over
our heads. We stopped at a country inn, where
lunch was prepared, sandwiches and hot spiced
negus, and very jolly we were, Rex's " tscho-ga,''
which he wore over his coat, exciting considerable

admiration,

. • • • •

Do you know we mean to " flit " this May 1 It

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Horned 113

will be a grief to part with the lovely views from
this dear old Reka Dom, but it is too huge and
too cold in winter, and burns enough fuel to —
well, as one of Rex's men said, "It would take a
major-general's allowance, sir ! " We have our eye
on a comfortable little house close by, with garden,
and eight rooms in it, and they say well-built and
convenient.

Your loving daughter,

J. H. E.

22 March, 1868.

People are very kind. I was walking to church
when Dr. Ward met us, going off on a professional
drive. He turned out his man, took me into the
sleigh, and drove me to the Cathedral before pro-
ceeding on his way, that I might not have to wade
through the snow. Mrs. Shore (the lady with the
dial in her garden; says (she comes regularly to
the daily services with small regard to the weather)
that she thinks Providence always sends somebody
to help her home. In this weather she needs some
one, and Rex occasionally tenders his arm !

8

114 Leaves from

Mrs. Shore (the dial lady) is as lively as ever.
We have a little joke every day almost after morn-
ing prayers. I say, " Mrs. Shore, allow me to be
your particular Providence,' and she says, " My
dear, I was looking for you," and I give her my
arm to take her home over the slippery ice.

Easter Tuesday, 1868.

Dear little Mrs. Shore I told you about. We
have been so grieved the last week, as she has been
very ill. On Good Friday she was given up, but
with some difificulty the Bishop obtained leave to
see her. They told him that it was no use, as she
was unconscious etc. ; however, she revived when
he went in, and he bathed her face with eau-de-
cologne, and she revived ; and he sent Mrs. Medley
to her, who has been nursing her since, and she is
now recovering. Today, much better.

April 26, 1868.

Poor dear little Mrs. Shore was buried on the
day of the snow-storm. Such a wild day, I was not

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Honied 1 1 5

able to go to her funeral, for which I was sorry.
The choir went in black, and sat in their places.
Rex went, and played the Dead March, and went
on to the cemetery. I went to see her after she was
dead. It was a lovely little face. It is to me very
comforting to see how faces that have been marred
by the struggle of life, and disfigured by the odds
and ends of mortality (queer caps, and wrappings,
mannerisms, and traces of illness, etc. !), become
beautiful in the peace of death without becoming
unrecognizable. Don't you know .'^ I saw so clearly
what a pretty girl Mrs. Shore must have been, and
it makes one understand how hereafter one may
be beautiful, and yet recognized. There were
lovely flowers in the room, and a saucer of salt
on her breast. I fancv she must have been laid
out by an Irish nurse. We all feel very much for
poor Miss Garnison ; she has lost a happy home.
She will remain here a bit, and Rex will give her
some lessons on the organ.

Mv DEAREST I>., — * . . Rex has got a pair of
snow shoes, and a pair are ordered for me ! Peter

1 1 6 Leaves from

Poultier, our Indian brother, guffawed loudly at
the idea of my having them, and says, " She 'II
make them " (i. e., his squaw). You should have
seen Rex wading about on the deep snow of our
garden the other night, — the Costers, Sarah, and
I watching him. Everybody said we should tumble
down at first, and Rex said he must have out the
orderly to pick him up. " Hartney '' ! " Yes, sir."
" Be ready in the garden to pick me up when I
fall ! " " Yes, sir."

Tell D. that the ankles are quite equal to snow-
shoeing, which is a thousand times easier than
skating, though Captain Poulton did yell with
laughing so loud that I told him he could be
heard at S. John. The first time, he saw me in
them, about a quarter of a mile of¥, and would
give no further account of himself thao " Mrs
Ewing in snow-shoes, wading up a bank, was too
many for his feelings." But I believe that my
** carriage " is rather graceful than otherwise on
them ! Rex says I go like a: squaw, which is
really a compliment, though the gait is more

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer 1 1 7

peculiar than absolutely beautiful. A sort of up-
right, easy swing of a walk ! ! !

• • • • •

I hope Rexs Easter Anthem will be very
successful. It begins with a Bass Recti. Solo:
" Very early in the morning on the first day of
the week, they came unto the sepulchre." {Trio
of women's voices): "They have taken away the
Lord, and we know not where they have laid Him."
{Alio Solo — Angel): "Why seek ye the living
among the dead ? He is not here." {Chorus) :
" He is not here. He is risen." {Chorus) : " He is
risen." It ends with a full chorale : " Christ is
risen from the dead, and is become the first-
fruits of them that slept. Alleluia, Amen."

Rex has got some lovely songs lately. A lot
of Franzs and of Schumann's. The way those
men " marry music" to Heine's "immortal verse"
is wonderful. You really would enjoy the exqui-
site delicacy with which some of Heine's gems are
set.

1 1 8 Leaves from

FiRsr Sunday after Epiphany, 1868.

The other night I looked out and saw that the

moon was shining on the snow, looking exactly

as if the river had opened, and there was a water-
surface. This was because the intense frost had

crusted and glazed the snow on the river so that
it reflected. Meanwhile a high wind was blowing
what loose snow there was in white wreaths hither
and thither. The Indians, by the bye, call Feb-
ruary " the moon in which there is crust on the
snow." One really hardly knows what snow is in
England. It is so dry here it is like dust, and is
blown about the streets. It takes a considerable
time to melt when you get it into the house, and
of course does not wet your feet or clothes out
of doors unless it is thawing. We keep little
brooms in the halls here to brush the snow from
our feet and clothes when we come into a house.
November is called " the moon in which the frost
fish comes," by which I suppose are meant the
" cusks " (as they call them here), a very nice fish
we get when the river closes. The men cut
holes in the ice and get them out. I don't know

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Honied 1 1 9

the process, though I have seen them in the
distance. I suppose the fish come to the hole
attracted by the light, but I don*t know. Rex
says they had them in the north of China.

18 March, 1868.

The bull dog is just barking at the avalanches
of snow that keep shooting off the roof with a
roar like thunder. For we are in the middle of
a thaw, and after being about 35° below zero last
Monday morning, to-day it is 50° above, and the
ice is beginning to thaw upon the river; however,
I fancy it will all harden up again. A priest was
ordained to-day, and there were two awful ava-
lanches during service. Such a noise it does
make. The musical abilities of our clergy were
brought into effective use to-day, for they and
the Bishop sang their own lines of the Veni
Creator, the choir singing the alternate ones.
The effect was really most impressive. Costers
fine bass, Mr. Pearson's sweet tenor, etc., and the
Bishop's hearty voice support alternate lines with

1 20 Leaves from

ample power, and it was very pretty, the men's
voices, as they all stood round the new priest,
and then the response of the choir. It was to a
simple old psalm tune.

I must add to my list of friends our new neigh-
bours, or rather " Over-the-ways " — two very old
ladies who were among the first settlers. (The
Loyalists came here and *' settled " in Fredericton
in 17 — alas ! I forget; 88 I think). There was one
old wooden church in those days, and terrible
battles about pews, which were put up to auction
in the church, and principal residents insisting on
having pews of double size. The parson lived on
the other side of the river, and one day he came

over in a birch-bark canoe and went back the
same way, and was never heard of again. Miss

Bailey remembers that on June ist, being the

King's birthday, they fired cannon over the river

to raise the body, but it was not found for eight

days. When the Bishop came, people went, once

to church on Sunday, and in the afternoon paid

visits and played cards. You may imagine the

storm created by his insisting on free seats.

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer \ 2 1

July 7, 1868.
. . . How I wish for you on moonlight nights in
the canoe. The other night we went out before
sunset and stayed late- The sunset was wonderful,

and whilst the crimson was still deluging the sky
and river, the moon looked through it like a ghost.
We went up the Nashwaak Cis (Little Nashwaak,
a tributary of S. John), and lay to close to a large
green bullfrog, who looked at us, but never moved.
A bittern was groaning in the ferns by the bank
(masses of Onoclea), and song birds were singing
everywhere. We came out into the S. John as the

12 2 Leaves from

moon rose, and finally two other canoes joined us,
and we flew up and down through the water, and
then lay to and listened to the 22nd band through
the mess room windows. Does n't it seem funny
to you to fancy me paddling on a great beautiful
river like this? Rex and I go alone now (I bow,
he stern), and enjoy ourselves amazingly —

August 29, 1868.

. . . How thankful I am that my letters have
somewhat counteracted the Bishop s vivid descrip-
tion of the climate ! In this glorious autumn
weather it does indeed seem a " need not " for you
to be distressing yourself, as you sit in the fogs of
dear old Yorkshire, about us in our bright clear
atmosphere. . . . For a short sojourn, and with no
necessity for fifty miles' journeys in sleighs and
such-like fatiguing expeditions, we are simply un-
speakably fortunate in the climate. I hope I told
you that snowshoeing is an amusement^ like skating^
and that there is 110 more necessity for me to snow-
shoe on this river than there ever was for me to
skate on the dam ! I thoroughly enjoy it. People

Mrs. Ewings ''Ca7iada Homey 123

make parties to snowslioe, and splendid fun it is.
Why, WE PICNIC in the winters here, which is more
than you do at home ! Picnic in the woods, and
hot spiced claret supersedes champagne cup!
And sometimes girls meet and make snowhouses^
inside which you are as warm as an Esquimaux.
I talked of having one last winter to sketch from,
and this one perhaps I shall ! . . .

Monday, 31. Such a lovely day! As Mrs.
Medley said to me this morning as we came out
of church, " It is a splendid climate! We have so
few dull days, so many clear bright ones ! " Did
I tell you of our latest picnic ? No. It was the
jolliest we have had, I think. We took the Parrys
in our canoe. I had a little funked it, it was so
hot, and I sometimes get a headache from the sun,
and when we paddle against stream and wind I
can't use an umbrella, and we had a good many
miles to go about midday. But we found an old
" puggaree " of Rex's, of Constantinople days,
fastened it on to my hat, and it answered perfectly.

We had a charming day. I did a little sketch-
ing, and we came home by moonlight, fourteen

1 24 Leaves from

canoes lashed together. We were in the middle,
so Rex and Capt. P. were idle, except that Rex
" conducted " the singing with a paddle ! We had
a good many comic songs, and some part singing.
The most interesting to me was a song sung by
Gabriel, the Indian, a curious wild, monotonous,
plaintive affair, but wonderfully in keeping with
the motion of the canoes, and the plash of the
water in the moonlight.

October 12, 1868.

My dearest D. : — The paper is up ! ! ! I leave
you to imagine my feelings. I told you how Mrs.
Medley and I had felt ourselves cut out by
" Bluenoses " when we found that Mrs. D. and
Miss P. could paper and we could not ! Where-
upon (having found a cheap paper in a stationer s
shop where Rex was music-hunting) I determined
to paper our dining-room ; and as Mrs. D. was
on a visit to Mrs. M., I called to draw out a few
incidental instructions in the course of conversa-
tion ! ! I found Mrs. M. had been before me, and
had papered a closet ! ! ! The two ladies an-

Mrs. Ewi7tgs ''Canada Home!^ 125

nounced their intention of calling in to see how
I got on, and after church on Friday morning,
having borrowed steps of Mrs. L. and an old
whitewash brush of Mrs. C, and having cut a
good many rolls of paper over night, I donned
my old blue print, and sent for the orderly to take
out the picture nails. He began — " When the
man that's going to paper comes, ma'am" — and
I felt very proud to shut him up with ** / 'm the
man that's going to paper, Hartney " (in a parlia-
mentary sense of man ! !). Just then the bell rang,
and he came back with a very solemn face — " It 's
the Bishop's lady, mum!!" — leaving her at the
door. However, the B.'s lady and Mrs. D. ended
by working with me till lunch, which, though it
diminishes my credit, decidedly accelerated the
work. They were intensely good, and we got
fully half done. Next day Mrs. D. and Miss J.
came and helped me, and late on Saturday evening
I finished it off myself. I think it looks quite as
well as the other papers.

126 L eaves from

S. John's Day, 1868.

... I will tell you how we spent our Christmas.
It did not promise very brightly, for the cold
which seemed to hang so unaccountably about
me, turned out to be a sort of epidemic variety
of influenza, i. e. influenza, without any cold in
the head, but feverish discomfort and a sort of
throat affection, something like mumps in a mild
form outside, and swelling within also; in fact,
"mumps, lumps, and dumps" about sums it up!
" Everybody " has had it. ... I did not get to
church on Christmas Day, but that was our only
drawback, and we w^ere so jolly and comfortable
that we had a delightful day. On Christmas Eve
we were silting on the landing by the dumbstove,
when (very late) a ring came at the door, and a
parcel was put into Rex's hands by an unknown
" party." It was a very pretty plated coffee pot,
and ditto butter cooler, with a note to the effect
that some members of the choir begged him to
accept this little Christmas gift as a very small mark
of their gratitude for his kindness in taking so
much trouble with them. This was rather a pleas-

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer 127

ant beginning to Christmas, was n't it ? Rex had
previously dressed the house with some "pricknig"
thoughtfully sent by Mrs. Medley, and had carried
me round the house to see the effect. I had had
some fun sending Hetty shopping for our turkey
and various odds and ends of Christmasings. On
Christmas eve, also, " Peter Poultice,'' our Indian
brother, gave us a call, and Rex took the oppor-
tunity to buy me a pair of bead-worked moccasins,
the first smart pair I have had. Then I sent
him up the town to his favourite " store " to buy
a piece of music as a Christmas box from me to him,
and he returned with " Israel in Egypt," and an
American stereoscope for 7ne. . . . Then in the
evening Rex went downstairs and played " Chris-
tians, awake " lovelily with all kinds of stops and
different effects, and I sat upstairs by the dumb-
stove, and was not entirely in Canada, as you may
fancy ! He did this for me last year. When he
had done he came up again, and said he hoped he
would play that for me every Christmas Eve, wher-
ever we were, even when he was an old man and
his old fingers trembled on the keys. It was after

128 Leaves from

that the testimonial came. Then the R. C. bell
began to chime for midnight Mass, and Hetty went
to bed, and Rex read the evening service with me
as Christmas Eve passed into Christmas Day. . . .
I am at this moment waiting for the Bishop,
with whom I am going to communicate with the
" Loyalist Ladies." They are two very old ladies
who live in a cottage opposite. Their father was
one of the loyalist Americans who left the States
to settle in Canada when the States rebelled; I
mean in the old American War. They were some
of the first settlers in Fredericton. The two sisters
are a single lady (Miss Bailey) and a widow
(Mrs. Emmerson). They called me their ** little
neighbour," and are pleased to look very favourably
on me, and they like me to come when they receive
the Holy Communion, which they do from time
to time, as they never go out now. I accuse Rex
oi a penchant for Miss B. and a flirtation from
his dressing-room window. She is immensely old,
ninety — something, but on dit that she does not
like it to be supposed that she is so old. However,
she likes me, though I was injudicious enough to

Mrs. Ewings ^^ Canada Home'' 129

enquire how the first French Revolution affected
this Province from her experience! . . .

April 10, 1869.
. . . Rex has been appointed conductor of the
Choral Society. There have been two nights
under the new baton, and the people are delighted.
"We'' are to give a concert shortly, and you shall
have a programme. Rex is writing a thing with
an " invisible chorus "on the words of Miss Proc-
ters " Vision." Mr. Roberts (basso profundo) is
to take the first part (solo), half the chorus is to
take the mourner s song '' on the stage," Mrs.
Rowan (soprano) is to take the second part (solo),
and the other half of the chorus will sing the
Angels' song " behind the scenes." I am to be
with the party in front so as to hear the invisible
chorus. It seems so strange to have so much to
do with concerts and choir here, and not to be
able to have any oi you in them ! I want the ladies
to be dressed in uniform, and hope it may come to
pass. We shall probably all be in white, with
different coloured ribbons for sopranos and altos.

9

1 30 Leaves front

April 17, 1869.

My dearest Father, — I wanted to adorn your
letter, but I fear I have not succeeded. The illustra-
tion is by way of giving you an idea of the finest
" aurora '* I have ever seen. I have been a little
disappointed with the want of colour in the auroras
I have seen here hitherto, and they have only
occupied part of the heavens; but on the 15th,
from 8 to 9 p. m. (with us) the above was visible,
and poured from the zenith to the horizon, north,
south, east, and west. In the west the rays were
beautifully coloured, and the sky looked as rosy
as after sunset or a fire in the woods. Against
this the " young moon in the old moon's lap " over
the dark chimney tops of the Rectory, was certainly
a lovely sight. The magnetic storm seemed to
rage in some places, and the general brilliancy
faded from time to time, and then burst out again
in vivid streams at particular points. It began in
the south, and passed northwards, not a usual
thing here. In fact, it was altogether more like an
Australian aurora, Rqx says. The lovely (or

Mrs. Ewings ''''Canada Horner 131

X2^k\tx grand) feature was the corona at the zenith

above our heads. It changed as ceaselessly as the

rays, — sometimes obscured. A dark mass would

suddenly rift with an effect like one of Martin's

boldest imaginations in his Milton. The rays were

sharpest near the corona, and then again near the

horizon. It was like standing under a tent of

celestial proportions, where the curtains showed

light and shadow as they rustled. Occasionally

in the west the rosy tint was mixed with greenish

and yellow rays, never very brilliant that we saw,

but we did not sec it at the very best, I believe. . .
The Bishop said he had not seen such a one for

twenty years.

Rose Hall, Fredericton, N. B.
8 May, 1869.

. . . This is our new nest ; it is a lovely summer
resting place. We take it by the month, and there
seems a fair prospect of our not having to move at
any rate for two or three months, but there is no
certain news for anybody as yet. . . . We get more
and more pleased with our present arrangements.

132 Leaves from

It is a great point to have big airy rooms in the
hot summer here/

June 14, 1869.
We have at last had a John Gilpin jaunt in our
honeymoon, and it has been enjoyable. . . The
contractor for the board of the men on lookout for
deserters to the States, stationed at the outpost at
Eel River, having fortunately chosen this lovely
season for failing to fulfil his contract, Rex had to
go there on business, and I accompanied him for
pleasure ! . . . We had never been " up river "
before, except ten miles or so in canoe. The
" boats " only run in the spring and autumn fresh-
ets. We left here at 5.15 a. m., and got to Eel
River about 2 p. m. (sixty miles or so). It was
lovely, though the " black fly " hardly left us alive !
We spent the night at the inn, took the boat again
on Tuesday morning, and came doivn river (forty-
eight or fifty miles down). / landed at Crock's
Point, where Mr. Dowling met me in his ** wagon "

1 These desolate ruins are all that are now left of the Rose Hall
Mrs. Ewing knew and loved, as the place was destroyed by fire some
seven years ago.

N

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer 1 35

(the four-wheeled " gig " of the country), and Rex
went on to Fredericton for the Choral Society's
practice. At Douglas we had some dinner, and in
the afternoon Mr. D. having to visit a sick man in
his Keswick district, he, I, and Mrs. Dowling
squeezed into the wagon and drove eighteen miles
through lovely country, on such a beautiful evening.
I saw the Keswick Church (to the consecration of
which Rex went in the winter of 1867), a very nice
little one. Coming back poor Mr. D. had " hard
times '' of it with me and his wife, for we had
brought a trowel, and we found " ladies' slippers "
and other treasures not so common close at hand,
and it seemed very doubtful if we could get home
before dark, though it is midsummer! Old "King,"
Mrs. D.'s dog, was with us and enjoyed him-
self greatly. When we came in, we found Mr.
Hannington en route home from a drive in his
wagon. People exercise unlimited hospitality of
its quiet kind in the country, and he stayed all
night. We meant to go to bed very early, but we
ended in sitting up rather early! in the study,
discussing Tennyson, Handel, miracle plays.

1 36 Leaves from

Jeremy Taylor, table turning, etc. Somebody
promised to " call " Mr. H., who had to drive fifteen
or sixteen miles to Jones's Island, where Rex was
to be deposited by the morning boat from Fred-
ericton. Happily he called himself, for we were
all too thoroughly done up to wake early. Mrs. D.
and I went out and botanized till a little after
dinner time, and then she and I got into the
wagon, packed my traps, took King, and bid
Douglas adieu, and drove to Prince William. It
is about sixteen miles, and, as we had a "wait '' at
the ferry, we did not get there till 8 p. m., when the
Hanningtons and Rex had almost given us up.
They had a roast turkey for us, and we had a capi-
tal dinner and were much refreshed, but so sleepy
all the evening that I discovered as in a dream that
Mr. Hannington was prizeman for botany at the
college here, and that he exhibited to me a very
ingenious press, and gave me some splendid speci-
mens of brown trillium. Again we all faithfully
promised to "calT' each other, and rolled into bed.
We started off again next day, Mr. H. and I
packed into his wagon, Mrs. Dowling and Mrs. H.

s

r^

Mrs. Ewings ''''Canada Horned 137

into the Dovvlings' ; Rex rode the spare horse, and
away we went. It was a tw^enty miles' drive, and
part of the time the sun was very hot, and I had
to take off my grey cloak and put the table cloth
round me to turn the sun. As we crept up the last
hill (through country more like our moors, saving
that the hills and slopes are covered not with
heather but the illimitable forest), Mr. H. wildly
begged me to shut my eyes. I kept them closed
till we were on the summit and by the church. It

looks down on *' Killarney on a larger scale,"

says Rex, the distant ranges not so high in propor-
tion, but a wide, wide beautiful lake, dotted with fir
covered islands deep down in the valley below the
church. On the other side it looks down on an
ocean of unbroken forest softening into purple and
blue with distance, but ''woods, woods, woods."
Against this background far down the little quaint,
white-painted Magundy Church shines like a star;
around the church is a churchyard (if you knew
how often settlers bury their people in their own
gardens, etc., as if they were their old horses or pet
dogs, you would know the value of the sight !) full

138 Leaves from

of white stones and with clumps of the apple-green
osmundas on the graves. All Saints will be a
very pretty church. (N. B. — It is not built of logs^
but of wood like the houses, and very pretty.) It
is roofed in, and is to be consecrated in September.
One grave is already in the churchyard, among the
wild strawberry blossom and the fern, that of a very
good girl and a communicant. We picnicked in the
valley below the lovely trees. Then we went on
to the lake, and it is lovely. The shore is gleaming
white sand {porphyry^ says Mr. H., and it is lovely
stuff ; I brought a handkerchief full to put in my
aquarium). Out of the sand grow blueberry plants.
Mr. H. " whipped off " his shoes and stockings
and walked about so along the shore. When we
returned our horse had escaped, and the men had
to hunt for him. I dug up flower roots with
dogged persistency, though the mosquitos and
black fly bit me till I rushed madly to the lunch
basket, grabbed the butter, smeared my face and
hands all over, and — went back to the trilliums!
Tell Stephen I saw fourteen different species of
fern that I knew in that one drive, and I got

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer 1 39

pitcher plants (full of rain water !), etc. Well, we
got our horses, Mr. H. rode, and Rex drove me.
When we got back to All Saints I went over it,
and then went back into it again to use it as a
house of prayer for once, for the strange, sad feeling
is we shall probably never see it again. Coming
out, I found that Rex had been adjuring the old
iron grey " Dolly " on the subject of men and
beasts praising the Lord. He is delighted with the
church, and he and I are to give the prayer desk.
One of the people had prepared a tea for us at
Magundy, so we did not get home till nearly mid-
night, and twenty miles in the dark, through woods,
do seem uncominouly long. Next day we drove
to the river bank, canoed to Jones's Island, took
the boat, and came home.

July II, 1869.

. . . On Wednesday evening I had the Cathe-
dral Choir and the members of Rex s Friday class
to tea, nearly forty people. I went into the

market and secured a lot of the wild strawberries,
which are just beginning, butter, etc., borrowed

china and glass of my friends, and all went off

140 Leaves from

very successfully. The music (it was a practice)
was very good. I wish you could hear the move-
ment from Rex's anthem of " When the Lord
turned again the captivity of Sion " — " He that
now goeth on his way weeping." Mrs. Rowan
sings it beautifully, and the chorus of " They
that sow in tears shall reap in joy" was really
fine. . . .

July has been altogether an exciting month to
us. The paper I send will speak for itself as to
the second concert, which was most successful.
I only wanted some of your dear old faces to
reflect my pride and pleasure at the way people
heaped praise and applause on Rex's head. Mr.
Roberts broke down in reading the address, which
I now keep in a sacred drawer. It is a most ele-
gant affair, tied with red ribbon. But the upset-
ting thing was when the Bishop left the audience
and came up on to the platform. He had known
nothing about it, and his "say" was of course all
impromptu ; the newspaper does it no manner of
justice. When he turned his loving face on Rex
to bid him good bye, it was — well, what the

i

/

Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer 141

whole thing was — almost more than one could
bear. We are going to scramble in another con-
cert before the month is out, if all be well, and
we suspect there is to be another "demonstra-
tion " then ! !

10 August, 1869.

Fredericion, N. B*^.

Our very dear Mother, — We would fain
spare you the uncertainty which is the shady side
of our wandering life. But (as we have often
reason to say) "one can't have everything." Up
to yesterday afternoon we hoped and believed that
this very day we should begin the journey that,
please God, is to end in the old nest; but it is
not to be for a little bit yet. We hope, however,
that it is only deferred for a few weeks. We felt
rather " knocked over " yesterday evening, but all
right to-day. I had rather dwelt on the joy of
sending you a telegram from Liverpool in place of
a letter across th.e Atlantic; but still we feel keenly
enough how much — how very much — we have
to be grateful for ; and if we are allowed to go

142 Leaves from

home this time, I shall make few grumbles as to
route, vessel, everything else, I promise you !

. . . On Tuesday evening the Choral Society
gave a small concert, where Sir James Carter sat
smiling in the front ranks, and Major Cox sat
meditative by the door! After the Hallelujah
Chorus, the Bishop came forward and in the
name of the society gave Rex a silver cup and
a watch chain. The cup is very light and artistic,
very pretty indeed, and beautifully engraved with
an inscription on one side, and a " design " of
musical instruments on the other. The chain is
simple and pretty. The people were wonderfully
kind, and are forever bemoaning our departure.
. . . It is very pleasant to -get a kind word and
a hearty regret from every tradesman one pays
off and every friend we say good bye to. . . .
Poor Mrs. Medley broke down so bitterly in con-
gratulating me on going home to my mother, —
" She will be so proud of you both, and the love
you have won here ! " and the poor soul sobbed,
and did I not sympathize.'^

. . . Did I ever tell you of the Bishop's present

Mrs. Ewings ''Canada Horner 143

to Rex? — two huge splendid volumes of Anthems,
etc., by Purcell and others, published by the
Motet Society, with an inscription in the first
page, —

**To Alexander Ewing, from his sincere friend, John
Fredericton. In remembrance of many happy hours
spent in the Service of the Church of God."

I am very proud of it, and it is a valuable work
in many ways.

144 Leaves from

Letter to Major Ewing after the passing away
of his beloved wife, in 1885.

Fkedericton,
St. John Baptist's Day, 1885.

My dear Major Ewing, — I hope I need not
assure you of our true sympathy under the heavy
affliction you have sustained, and our heartfelt
sorrow for a loss felt by thousands besides our-
selves. We have long feared that your dear wife
would break down under the mental strain of
writing what gave such infinite pleasure, not only
to children, but to grown persons, and yet we felt
sure that it was a fire that could not be restrained,
and that the mind of true genius would consume the
frail body. We have followed as well as we could
every step as mourners, and through the " Guar-
dian '' we seemed to be part of the procession and
to bear a bunch of flowers, though the wide sea
rolls between us. I never pass the little white
cottage without thinking of you both as we all
sat down to read a chapter in Hebrew, and we

Mrs. Ewing's "Canada Horned' 145

siiall never have again one to lead us in the
choir as you used to do.

We have had two other losses of dear friends
this year, — one most distressing, Col. F. Strang-
ways, and by the last mail we hear of the death of
Archdeacon Woolcombe, an old Exeter friend. Our
circle is indeed narrowing to a very small space.
Will you accept our kind love and sympathy, and
please to convey the same to her sister, who, I
understand, is still with you, and believe me

Your sincere friend, John Fredericton.

is Ihi geoii, find n
or, rather, iicitlut
ny Cod ! " — Fri

> lUMB AT TRUI.L.

' t/ie grcil liings. of n,

J

/ . ■•

■ I

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